wfn.org | LWI News in Brief

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Accord Brings Greater Unity to Anglican and French Protestant Churches

With twin signing ceremonies in Canterbury and Paris, an historic accord
has come into force between France's main Protestant churches and the
Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland. The Reuilly Common Statement
commits the churches to sharing "a common life and mission" while taking
further steps toward "full visible unity." The Reuilly accord was signed
on July 1 in the Saint-Esprit church, Paris, following the counterpart
ceremony on June 16 in Canterbury Cathedral. "We are writing a page of
our churches' history and at the same time a page of the history of the
universal church," Werner Jurgensen, a principal negotiator of the
accord and a Lutheran pastor from Alsace, declared in Paris. The
signatory churches are: the Reformed Church of France, Reformed Church
of Alsace, two Lutheran World Federation member churches - the Church of
the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine and Evangelical Lutheran
Church of France, the Church of England, Church of Ireland, Scottish
Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales. The Reuilly accord echoes the
Meissen Agreement of 1988 between the Church of England and Evangelical
Church in Germany (EKD), while stopping short of the 1996 Porvoo
Agreement, which brought the Anglican Churches of Britain and Ireland
into full communion with Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches.
(Ecumenical News International)

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Common Goals for Finnish Church and Trade Unions

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and various trade unions have
discovered common goals on social issues. Subjects of interest to both
parties are development cooperation, quality of employment and working
conditions. Archbishop Jukka Paarma and Mr. Lauri Ihalainen, chairperson
of the most influential Finnish trade union, The Finnish Trade Unions
Central Organization (SAK), have made an appeal for increased
development cooperation. They have proposed to decision-makers and
influential persons that a common moral and political commitment needs
to be reached on the gradual raising of development cooperation grants
to the level recommended by the United Nations, one that crosses the
boundaries between government and opposition. The signatories to the
appeal demanded that the government hold fast to the goal whereby
development cooperation grants would form 0.7 percent of the GNP [Gross
National Product]. At the same time, constant improvement in the quality
of development cooperation must be ensured. At present, Finland assigns
approx. 0.4 percent of the GNP to development cooperation. In addition
to the appeal, the Lutheran organizations FinnChurchAid and Finnish
Evangelical Lutheran Mission have initiated a card campaign, the purpose
of which is to appeal to members of parliament for their support in
raising development cooperation grants. Cards and brochures will be sent
to the parishes, which will distribute them further. The church and
trade union movement have also found common ground in discussion on work
ethics and contemporary pressures for change. Many trade unions, for
example, have begun to draw up ethical guidelines. At meetings between
church and trade union representatives it has been noted with
satisfaction that talk of ethics and morality is not old-fashioned. A
subject of mutual interest has also been coping at work. There has been
cooperation with various trade unions, such as clerical and municipal
trade unions.
(ELCF Communications)

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Evangelism, CCM, Human Sexuality Top Topics at ELCA Synods

Forty-five of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) completed their annual assemblies between June 1 and June
24. The most common subjects addressed by voting members in those
assemblies were evangelism, implementation of a full-communion
agreement, Called to Common Mission (CCM), of the ELCA and the Episcopal
Church, and concerns related to human sexuality. Nineteen synods elected
or re-elected bishops. Twenty synod assemblies had been completed by May
31. Many of the issues from synod assemblies were forwarded for action
to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which meets in Indianapolis Aug. 8-14.
The churchwide assembly, which consists of 1,040 voting members from
throughout the church, is the ELCA's chief legislative authority. It
meets every two years. According to reports received by the ELCA
Department for Synodical Relations, at least 16 synods adopted
resolutions or memorials related to evangelism. The 2001 Churchwide
Assembly will hear a report on the church's evangelism efforts in the
1990s and consider adoption of a new strategy. At least six synods
adopted a memorial known as "Called to Freedom," or adopted similar
proposals. The proposals call for the churchwide assembly to adopt a
series of constitutional amendments to accommodate church leaders who
cannot accept some requirements of a full-communion agreement of the
ELCA and the Episcopal Church, which went into effect this year. CCM
calls on the two churches to share ministries, and under certain
circumstances, allows for exchange of clergy.

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New Staff Members Appointed to LWF Secretariat in Geneva

The Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at its
recent June meeting approved the appointment of the following staff
members:

The Rev. Dr. Andreas Woehle, 42, was appointed for a four-year term as
Area Secretary for Europe in the LWF Department for Mission and
Development (DMD). Woehle succeeds the Rev. Dr. Olli-Pekka Lassila who
returned to Finland at the end of May. Lassila had been Area Secretary
for Europe since March 1998. From 1991-1996, he was Assistant Area
Secretary for Europe. In August, Lassila will take up his new position
at the Department for International Relations of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Finland as Executive Secretary for Finns Abroad, a
post he has already held, from 1987-1991 and from 1996-1998.

Born in Brunswick, Germany, Woehle studied theology at the universities
of Hamburg and Goettingen in Germany, and in Utrecht and Amsterdam in
the Netherlands, after first passing his theological examinations in
Brunswick. He was ordained in 1988 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and since 1993 has served as a parish
pastor in the Netherlands' Flevoland region. During his studies, Woehle
was particularly engaged in the study of Judaism, and is recognized as
an expert in Jewish-Christian dialogue. In 1995, he received his
doctorate in theology at the State University of Amsterdam. Woehle and
his Dutch wife have three children. He is expected to take up his new
post at the beginning of October.

Mr. Daniel Bernard Johnston, 53, from Great Britain, was appointed for a
four-year term as Associate Director of the LWF Office for Finance and
Administration. He succeeds Michel Bettermann who served in Geneva for
19 years. Bettermann will be available as consultant during the
transition period.

Johnston studied accountancy at the College of Commerce in Leeds,
England, and passed the A.C.A. and F.C.A examinations of the Institute
of Chartered Accountants in 1970 and 1979 respectively. Since 1982, he
has been Director of Finance and Administration of the International
Catholic Migration Committee, a non-governmental organization based in
Geneva. Before 1982, he worked for various business concerns in Great
Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. He and his wife have two children.
He is expected to take up his new post in mid-August.

Ms. Maryssa Janelle Mapanao-Camaddo, 37, will begin a four-year term at
the beginning of August, as Secretary for Evaluation and Documentation
in the LWF Department for World Service. Mapanao-Camaddo, from the
Philippines, holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Beloit College
in the United States of America, and a master's degree in education
administration from the University of the Philippines. From 1996 to the
end of 2000, she was Executive Director of the Ecumenical Church
Foundation in Quezon City, Philippines, and from 1993-1995, Executive
Director of the Association of Christian Schools and Colleges in the
same city. Previously, she worked for various Christian organizations.
Mapanao-Camaddo is a member of the United Church of Christ in the
Philippines. She is married and has two children.

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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133 member
churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the 64.3
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations,
theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the
various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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